Census 2011: House list enumeration begins today

People can give details of their house and members in the house without fear of information leakage as it will be kept a closely guarded secret.Even under Right to Information Act, the census detail cannot be got. The census officials have no right to disclose this information.

The reason is, without the permission from the Centre and the state, the census officers cannot disclose any information. If by chance they disclose, then a penalty of Rs 1,000 and jail sentence which can be extended to three years will be imposed.
In the schedule given to the census officials to fill , the Home Ministry’s Census Commissioner office has published in the booklet, these dos and don’t clearly.
The Right to Information Act also clearly states that the information must compulsorily not be given. Hence, nobody can demand the census information as a matter of right, said State Census Enumerate director T K Anil Kumar speaking to Deccan Herald on Wednesday.

Under the 1948 Census Act (1948’s, 37th Act), in the light of a few rules being revised, the census officer cannot ask irrelevant and provocative questions.

The information got through census cannot be disclosed without the permission of the government. According to rule 10 of the Act, the census records will not be subjected to any investigation. Nobody has the right to inspect them. The information there will not be taken into account in civil and criminal cases.

Therefore, it is unnecessary to ask whether there will be any problem if information is given. The census will be used only for the purpose of planning the nation’s schemes and plans. Hence, people can freely give information, said assistant commissioner R S Peddappaiah.

Giving information must
When the enumerators come to the house, it is compulsory for the head of the house or its members to cooperate with them and give information.It is an offense to stop the census enumerators from entering the house, to change or erase the number written on the wall of the house.

The punishment meted out to the officer who reveals the information will also be meted out to the people who commit this offense.

Names not compulsory
In the ordinary circumstances if there is a practice of not pronouncing the name, then it is not compulsory that the head of the family has to mention the name of the female member or the woman name of her husband. In the light of respecting religious sentiments, this opportunity has been given, said the census officers.

Awards
Apart from the honourarium, those census enumerators who do their work with a great deal of enthusiasm are also eligible for a special award. The aim of this is to laud the work of the enumerators, said official sources.